1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a brush flatter for use in a drawing instrument such as writing brush and painting brush, which is detachably attachable to a tip portion of a shaft of the drawing instrument to shape a brush mounted on the shaft into a flattened shape, and a drawing instrument equipped with the brush flatter.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been known writing brushes and painting brushes equipped with a brush comprising, e.g., a bundle of fibers which extends from a tip portion of a shaft thereof. Further, there have been proposed a variety of kinds of drawing instruments with different shapes of brushes to satisfy various demands of users. For instance, some drawing instruments are equipped with a brush having a large thickness. This type of brush has a generally circular shape viewed from a front side of the drawing instrument, and hereinafter is called as xe2x80x9cthick brushxe2x80x9d. Others are quipped with a brush having a flat shape with a small thickness. This type of brush is hereinafter called as xe2x80x9cthin or flat brushxe2x80x9d. Users use these different kinds of drawing instruments depending on the purpose of use such as what kind of lines, patterns, and color tones they attempt to draw or apply.
In the conventional drawing instruments, each drawing instrument is equipped with a brush of an individual shape. Accordingly, a user is required to use a plurality of kinds of drawing instruments according to needs. There rises a case that a user is required to prepare a multitude of kinds of drawing instruments depending on what the user intends to draw. This is uneconomical and involves cumbersome operation such as preparation of a multitude of kinds of drawing instruments beforehand, and putting them in order after use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a brush flatter and a drawing instrument which are free from the problems residing in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a brush flatter that enables a user to paint, draw or write pictures, patterns, and the like in various drawing or writing manners with use of a single writing or painting brush, and a drawing instrument equipped with such a brush flatter.
According to an aspect of the invention, a brush flatter is detachably attached to a tip portion of a shaft of a drawing instrument having a brush member at the tip portion thereof. The brush flatter includes a casing having a space to allow the brush member of the drawing instrument to pass in an axial direction of the shaft. The casing is provided with a shaft fitting portion formed at a proximal end portion thereof. The shaft fitting portion has such a configuration as to fittingly seat on the tip portion of the shaft of the drawing instrument. Also, the casing is provided with a brush pressing portion formed at a distal end portion thereof. The brush pressing portion defines a slit-like opening through which a tip portion of the brush member pressedly passes so that an exposed tip portion of the brush member comes into a flat form when the shaft fitting portion of the casing fittingly seats on the tip portion of the shaft of the drawing instrument.
In the above arrangement, the brush pressing portion of the brush flatter makes it possible to flatten the brush tip portion when being attached to the shaft. A drawing instrument provided with a thick brush having a circular cross section can be changed into a drawing instrument provided with a thin brush having a rectangular cross section according to needs.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description and accompanying drawing.